Soul Calibur (ソウルキャリバー Souru Kyaribā?) is the second game in the Soul series of fighting games developed and produced by Namco. Soulcalibur was ported and released for the Sega Dreamcast with improved graphics and new features and became one of the best-selling Dreamcast titles overall. The Sega Dreamcast port is often cited as one of the greatest fighting games of all time, and even one of the greatest games across all genres; it is ranked as the fifth-best game of all-time by review aggregator site Game Rankings.[1] Following the first game Soul Edge in 1995, the Soul series received a major makeover and was retitled Soulcalibur in 1998. Hence, Soulcalibur can also refer to the series consisting of Soulcalibur and its subsequent sequels.
Soul Calibur is the name of the holy sword, created to battle the evil sword Soul Edge, around which the games' story-lines revolve. According to a timeline released by Namco on their "Soul Archive" site, Soulcalibur takes place around 1587.